Turning down a T14 IN THIS ECONOMY!

[nealric]

NLJ figures show that 27% or so at UT go to NLJ 250...

#1: Survey under reports because there are about 30 NLJ firms that did not report.
#2. Clerkships: Some of the class who could have easily gone biglaw chose to do a clerkship

It is still a good guide as to the relative employment prospects of a school. It fluctuates because the employment market fluctuates, random chance changes things, etc.

[UnoriginalAndrew]

Unless you hate the state of Texas, choosing UT Law would almost never be a bad idea.  Enjoy the live music, the great restaurants, and 6th Street!

[Quail!]

Unless you hate the state of Texas, choosing UT Law would almost never be a bad idea.  Enjoy the live music, the great restaurants, and 6th Street!

Credit.  Austin may be teh awesomest place to go to school ever

[nealric]

Its also northeast heavy and thus  not a realistic appraisal of placement for the majority of law schools out there. 

The NLJ 250 is no more northeast heavy than big law firms are northeast heavy. It is simply a ranking of the 250 largest law firms in the US. (A you sure you are not confusing it with the Vault 100, which is very NY centered?)
That ranking might not mean much at a third tier school, but for someone looking at top 25 schools and wanting to make over 100k starting out, it should be the first place to look.

[Bulldog86]

Another thing about Texas is, it's THE state school. Meaning, lots of people go there because they're from Texas and want to stay in Texas and work in a small firm/DA's office/whatever and have no interest in BIGLAW. That's probably NOT the case somewhere like Georgetown, and that would skew the numbers.

(NOT saying that UT=GULC in placement, but if you wanna play the BIGLAW cutoff game, it's worth remembering that the 30ish% that gets it at UT might not be the top 30%...)

[metooo]

Here is the Employment Stats for the class of 07 at Texas provided by the CSO...Does anyone have Cornell's? (or GULC's) Then we can make a more accurate comparison.

Academic: 7
Business or Industry: 41
Government: 24
Judicial Clerkships: 58
Law Firm: 248
Military: 2
Public Interest: 15
Area Unknown: 5

Total: 400 (62% law firm)


Average salary (based on salaries reported):

Academic: $27,000
Business or Industry: $84,209
Government: $49,055
Judicial Clerkships: $51,098
Law Firm: $142,360
Military: $72,500
Public Interest: $36,746

Overall Average: $112,979


By geographic location:

TEXAS: 280
NEW ENGLAND (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT): 4
MIDDLE ATLANTIC (NY, NJ, PA): 24
EAST NORTH CENTAL (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI): 8
WEST NORTH CENTRAL (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD): 2
SOUTH ATLANTIC (DE, DC, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV): 29
EAST SOUTH CENTRAL (AL, KY, MS, TN): 7
WEST SOUTH CENTRAL (AR, LA, OK): 2
MOUNTAIN (AZ, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, UT, WY): 8
PACIFIC (AK, CA, HI, OR, WA): 23
INTERNATIONAL: 8
Area Unknown (Employed): 5

Total: 400 (70% Texas)

I heard the class had 410 or so in total, so it looks like most of them responded to the survey.

[armada]

The salary for academics make no sense to me.  Are they working as TAs or something?

[nealric]

The salary for academics make no sense to me.  Are they working as TAs or something?

Pretty much nobody gets a tenure track professorship right out of law school. Even the Yale types will go and clerk first. The only exceptions are people who already have Phd's before starting law school.

Academia can also include people who are working as research assistants at the law school or just teaching high school. Some schools will even hire unemployed people as research assistants just to keep their % employed numbers up (not saying UT does)

[deb2191]

Have we all concluded that recession is inevitable at this point?